Tuesday, December 03, 2013

Winter has arrived....

From fall to winter in just 24 hours. That's how we do it up North. Yesterday I walked in The Woods (our shelter belts) with branches and dry leaves crackling underfoot, and today I plodded through over a foot of snow through the same woods. I call it a "walk" but it is much more like a slow plod. It's a tougher walk, but I enjoy it anyway. Thankfully the snow was soft and fluffy. I could have worn my snowshoes, but they aren't much good on fluffy snow. They're better for hard wind-driven snow.

Last night Old Man Winter crawled in with a few flakes gently falling down, and this morning we woke up to his delivery of 12" of snow. The snow continued falling for most of the day. We spent all day tractoring-out snow from the around the barns and lots and later snow was moved away from stockades so straw bedding could be laid down for the cattle to sleep on tonight. Our high temp for the day was 20* and that's going to be as good as it gets for the remainder of the week. Tonight we're expecting high winds and plummeting temps down below zero. Harsh.

Do you see Sue way out in the middle?

I went out to the chicken coop to check on the hens. That snow on top is going to insulate the coop about as good as anything could. Thankfully, Hubs threw some nice, dry straw down on the dirt floor for the girls. They appreciated it. I carried out hot water for their drinking bucket and fed them an extra scoop of pellet and wheat this afternoon.

Sweet Buffy (Buff Orpington)

The hens have been laying well this fall. I'm hopeful they'll continue to produce through the deep freeze we're about to experience. Cold often puts a damper on egg laying. I'm sometimes less productive when the cold hits too. I've got the wood stove burning to keep us warm inside, and for the outside, I dug out my bigger, warmer winter coat from the closet and the woolly pants I wear every winter. Thankfully, the UPS man brought our Duluth Trading Co. order yesterday. Our tootsies are nice and toasty now with our new work socks. Ahhhhh, what a treat.

How's the weather where you are? Is the COLD on it's way to you? Or are you in the midst of it? Stay safe and warm, friends!

16 comments:

I wonder if this will end up being a double comment. You really did change your landscape since your last post!! We are real cold here in the Seattle area. If it was raining I think it would be snow...

Wow looks beautiful! Glad the chickies are doing well....We are expecting the cold and icy/snow to be here in the next couple days. Hopefully we can get the hot tub hooked up and warmed up so we don't freeze the pipes in it....

Wow! You got us beat this time. We only got a few inches. It is very cold here. We decided to leave Ella in the house and kept our fingers crossed. She wasn't naughty. Your tree patch is very well kept. I love the photo of the dog in the background.

Bonnie, our tree patch isn't very well kept since the Oct. blizzard. Lots of tree branches and whole trees came down since the trees were in leaf at the time. Lots of firewood in there now. I took pictures of the places that were more open.

I didn't expect to see you posting about a fall of snow. It's the sort of weather that can come anytime now up here in the hills too. I always feel for the farming community around here when we're snowed in.

Blue skies, fluffy clouds and sunshine across the pond. The snow is coming further up north in Scotland but we aren't expecting any our neck of the woods. What a winter wonderland you have, so pretty but it gives you a bigger work load:(Loved the photo of Meg, I wouldn't have noticed it if you hadn't mentioned it. Gorgeous hens!Thanks for popping into my Blog Jody, it's been a while since I was active there. Enjoy your snowy walks. Can't wait for the snow to come my way. X

Ouoch!!! Well, that snow should put you in the holiday mood, no??? We're in the high 50s today but that will be the end of it, as your front will hit us tomorrow. I heard on the news that you will be below zero this week -- Stay Warm!!!

It's chilly here (for Western WA) but nothing compared to Montana, of course! Our highs are in the low 30's and down into the teens and 20's at night. Clear, sunny and dry and this should last all week. Same weather pattern that you have coming down from Canada. It's beautiful first thing in the morning when the sun comes up and the stars start to disappear. The mountains are glorious!

It's Narnia! Glad those hens are staying warm. It was almost 80 here yesterday and today the high is 36 and we are expecting ice and all of Texas is in a tizzy. You would laugh at how ridiculous we are. But this is why I like summer in Texas. You know what to expect...summer. Fall, winter and spring are another story.

Oh how pretty ! We have had odd weather , having a bit of warmish (high 50's) and foggy this week. We had very cold and windy last week wind chills in single digits . Our chickens continuing to lay so far :)

Jody, our internet is non existent right now, and I'm woefully behind on all my blogging. But I read from GJ that snow had arrived at your home in a big way -- beautiful! I'll keep this page open and enjoy reading it when I get home. Stay safe and warm!

Oh my goodness, that is some snow. You lucky girl )easy for me to say ;-) Yeah, it have been super cold here, well for us kind of cold. But now the rain is moving in, so that means warmer temps xox Clarice